Accused in November Crescent Heights homicide to go straight to trial

By Medicine Hat News on June 28, 2017.

A preliminary hearing has been waived by a Medicine Hat man charged with second-degree murder over a November homicide in Crescent Heights, with the case to head directly to trial.

An arraignment date of Aug. 11 was set Wednesday for Aaron Raj Anand-Ford, so that pleas can be entered and a trial date set.

Anand-Ford was arrested alongside Jacob Peter Porfoun following the death of 24-year-old Dustin Hewer on Nov. 5, 2016. An autopsy concluded Hewer’s death was caused by “sharp force injury.”

Porfoun pled down from second-degree murder to manslaughter on June 21, and was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in jail.

A publication ban prevents the details surrounding Porfoun’s involvement in the homicide from being published until Anand-Ford’s trial.